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How big is yours then?

I have contemplated joining a camera club for quite some time, but never got round to actually going ahead with it. Why would I have wanted to do such a thing you may ask? The first reason was to just simply get to know other photographers within the area to chill out with and share different experiences with and the another reason was to learn from more experienced photographers the different techniques for more complexed photography. As time went by I ummed & ahhed, listened to others who have had the experience I decided it wasn’t for me. After hearing from several ex members the kind of things that went on, I felt that I could spend all my spare time by actually reading and learning from the internet and photography magazines. Then taking the camera out to put that hard effort of learning into practice. There is one kind of person I dislike more than most and that is a bragger. It seemed that in a lot of these photography groups there would be more of mine is bigger and more expensive than yours rather than wanting to get to know someone and actually learning something from them?
I once heard a story from a reliable source that a young man (lets call him Jack) entered a large photo competition/ exhibition in England and had all his prints displayed for viewing and judging. A group of men approached him and asked “hey are these pics yours?” Jack replied modestly “yes they are” One of the men replied “wow you must have a really serious piece of kit?” Then Jack replied “actually I have a Cool pix” and he pulled out a humble point n click camera from within his pocket. The guys fell about laughing and thought he was joking until he said again “this is the camera that I have been using for my work”. The men stopped laughing and said sarcastically “Yeah righ!”, well good luck” and just walked off sniggering. The competition judging had come to an end and Jack ended up with a number of 1st prizes in a number of categories.
The morel of this story is that it’s not the size that matters, but it’s what you do with it that matters most and knowing your camera’s capabilities.

I have a friend who is an exceptional photographer and he invited me down to his studio when I first started getting serious with photography. I spent a full day training and learning the three most important basics of photography………Aperture, ISO and shutter speed. He said to me ” You wouldn’t believe the amount of so called professional photographers out there that have the most fancy cameras and lenses and don’t even know how to use these three fundamental basics properly” I learnt so much in a short amount of time and I am still learning, but having great fun at the same time. I have also learnt that it isn’t necessarily the body that is the most important, but the correct lens for a certain job, be it macro work, street or landscape photography.

When my wife researched on what camera to buy me, she spoke to so many professional photographers and all of them told her to buy the Canon 1100D, as it will do most of the work that the larger camera’s will do and also take the full range of lenses that Canon offer, right up to the amazing L series. Yes it does have it’s limitations, but those limitations can be rectified one way or another. I am not saying that the 1100D is the be all and end all of cameras, but it is a very good start to a new career. So the next time someone asks you how big is your then, just say more than adequate, smile and walk away.